A revolution. Researchers at the University of Georgia Tech, in Atlanta, Georgia (USA), have found a way to facilitate the learning of the tactile writing system for the blind.
This glove has a system of vibrations at the joints that vary according to the signs written in Braille and audio signals. It thus makes it possible to learn without concentration on the part of the user. “We learned that people can acquire motor skills from vibrations without active attention being given to their hands,” said Thad Starner, professor at Georgia Tech.
To come to this conclusion, the researchers conducted a series of studies and the results are astounding. The subjects were divided into two groups of users with gloves for a lesson inBraille writing thirty minutes. The tested group had to concentrate on the tasks, while the control group played video games unrelated to Braille at the same time as their lesson. Among the participants who had no concept of this language, even the people who played video games during their lesson managed to learn to write Braille. In addition, the group of players also mastered Braille reading after 30 minutes.
Learn Braille without concentrating
“We were surprised to find that people could transfer their Braille typing skills to reading Braille itself,” noted Caitlyn Seim, a student who worked on the research. “After their typed test, passive learners could read and recognize over 70% of the letters,” she adds.
Another experiment was carried out to determine the extent of the beneficial effects of the vibrations of these gloves. During this test, the control group received only audio signals to learn this new language and their final performance was much less conclusive. Thad Starner details, “participants who felt the vibrations during the game were more accurate, up to 33%”, and concluded that “some even obtained perfect results”.
The older we get, the more difficult and restrictive it is to learn a language. These gloves could in particular facilitate the learning of Braille, for parents of children suffering from blindness.
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